This most recent set of hijinks took place at CDC Prevention headquarters in Atlanta in January, when a lab scientist accidentally mixed the two samples, sending what should have been a benign (at least to humans) strain of the virus to another lab. Except, you know, it wasn't. So when that very same virus concoction was given to some unsuspecting chickens as part of a USDA study in March, and all those chickens proceeded to immediately die, the USDA officials knew something wasn't right.

The CDC lab responsible for the deadly mixed sample then confirmed that, yes, that virus was actually wildly dangerous but told, well, no one. Until June, that is, when a second lab reported a similar problem and CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden was finally notified.

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Apparently, the lab scientist who had originally contaminated the sample completed what should have been 90 minutes of work (with both the tame and deadly viruses) in 51 minutes, in an attempt to make the noon meeting. Whether that meeting actually did begin as scheduled, though, remains inconclusive.